Heatblur F-4 Phantom Family

Phantom88 · February 13, 2022

****Heatblur will be bringing several variants of The F-4 Phantom to DCS starting with The "E" variant****

^^^^

Frequently Asked Questions: The DCS: F-4 Phantom
by Heatblur Simulations

Q: When will the DCS: F-4 Phantom by Heatblur Simulations release?
A: DCS: F-4E has been in development for some time and will be released later in 2022. Stay tuned for our full unveiling closer to launch day!

Q: What variants will the Heatblur F-4 Phantom include?
A: The first release will be DCS: F-4E, the iconic land based variant of the Phantom. We will be launching two variants of the -E; a “classic era” F-4E (blocks 36-45 with updates retrofitted in 1974 and before, including new slats, DSCG and AGM-65) as well as an upgraded (DMAS) version of the aircraft in one package.

Q: Will there be a Navy F-4?
A: Yes! Our Phantom journey only begins with the -E. However, owing to the complexity of the work and investment of time and effort, it will not be included in the DCS: F-4E product. We’re instead choosing to focus on providing the most content rich F-4E we possibly can, and then set our sights on further telling the legendary story of the F-4.

Q: Will the Heatblur F-4 Phantom be released as Early Access?
A: The F-4E will be released as Early Access first. Much like the F-14 Tomcat, we plan on releasing it as feature complete as we can, including Singleplayer and Multicrew capability, a WSO-AI, an elaborate Flight Model, functioning cockpits and instruments, the main set of air to ground and air to air weapons such as sidewinders, sparrrows, mavericks, laser guided bombs, dumb bombs, a gun and of course a fully functional radar, avionics suite and F-4 specific systems that will help you dominate the battlefields of its time. As usual it will come chock-full of content, including training missions, Singleplayer missions, Multiplayer scenarios and of course, more than one campaign.

Q: Will it come with Multicrew capability and a WSO AI?
A: From day one you will be able to enjoy the F-4 with full multicrew functionality and with the JESTER-AI, tailored to the needs and capabilities of the F-4 Phantom.

Q: Why won’t all variants be part of one module?
A: The investment of time and effort to do the Navy and Marine Corps versions of the F-4 justice makes it unrealistic for us to include everything in one package. We want to make sure to tell the story of each Phantom variant chosen in the most content rich and appropriate way possible, while making sure that we stay a thriving and viable team. We’ll share more details on our plans with regards to variant additions to the F-4 later, but we remain steadfastly committed to ensuring that we are fair to our beloved community and supporters.

Q: Why does the announcement come so early?
A: We initially wanted to keep things a secret until we were just about ready to release, but the volume of interest and questions about the F-4 made that quite impossible! Hopefully you enjoyed the announcement trailer, even if short- stay tuned for our full unveiling closer to release day. We’re excited about you all being a part of the Phantom journey.

Q: When will you share more?
A: As the development of the module continues, we will try to be as transparent as possible and include you as much as we can, sharing the different stages of the development as well as exploring this phabulous aircraft together with you all.

Q: What about the Eurofighter, the A-6E, F-14 and Viggen? Are you biting off too much?
A: The Heatblur team has never grown nor been more capable than it is today. The trust you put in us is absolutely sacred, and the announcement of the F-4 has no bearing on the steadfast commitment to continued progress on existing and other future modules. The F-4 has been under active development since early 2021, and our roadmap, including the Eurofighter and other future modules was created in this context.

With an ever expanding portfolio, it is important for us to ensure that we will not let up on maintaining our high standards for all of our modules, released or yet to be released. Ad astra per aspera, upwards and onwards, with our partners at Eagle Dynamics we plan to continue on pushing boundaries as long as we stand and could not be more excited about both present and future.

Edited January 26 by IronMike
typos

frieone · February 13, 2022

Thanks Patrick😎

Looks like more money to spend. My Uncle flew this one off carriers in Vietnam so this one is dear to me.

When I was a teen I dreamed of flying this plane.

Regards Frieone

P.S nice Rendition of the star-spangled banner in the video. I will let other ppl name the guitar player😀.

Phantom88 · January 12, 2023

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Phantom88 · January 12, 2023

Dear All,

The Heatblur Simulations team and our wonderful partners at TrueGrit would like to wish you a successful and joyful 2023! Have a great new year, full of joy, great times and awesome sim experiences. 2023 is a big year for Heatblur, and we’re grateful that you’re along for the ride. It’s going to be a great one!

We’ve just wrapped up a very tough 2022. From a personal standpoint for many of our team, with personal tragedies and the invasion of Ukraine taking its toll on us and our timelines. Despite this, we look back at 2022 with pride. We’ve seen tremendous growth in capability and size, forged new partnerships and shipped features and improvements throughout the year. While still playing catch-up; we’re right back on track on finishing the first of our next generation of high fidelity simulation experiences, starting with the F-4E Phantom II and leading towards the Eurofighter Typhoon.

While we missed our mark on the F-4E Phantom for a 2022 release; we’re now very close to full completion of all major elements: flight model, radar, weapons systems, and other key major systems- and even ancillary content as another full length Meteor album! You’ve seen a sneak-peek in the 2023 and beyond video, and we can’t wait to fully unveil the aircraft that we’ve built over the past two years. For the Phantom- and all of our new products- we’ve invested heavily into building our next generation platform and framework. This enables faster future development, intrinsic multithreading, more dependable multicrew synchronization, far less of a maintenance burden, and new standardized features such as wear & tear, aircraft persistence, mass dynamics, and far more.

In addition to this; we’ve also had our sights on JESTER v2, a complete rewrite of the JESTER AI system which will enable faster AI development and developer ease of use for integration in future aircraft such as the A-6.

On the Eurofighter front, we continue to lay the foundations of this module through application of our next generation framework. Soon, the majority of the work will remain in high level parts: radar, weapons systems, displays and flight control systems- all leaning and benefitting from the completed next generation core. As an incredibly complex aircraft and project, the Eurofighter will be a litmus test for our team to ensure quality and accuracy while avoiding excessive technical debt.

These considerations are key for a project of this scope and size, as we strive to minimize maintenance burden and excessive sustainment resources. You should expect to see much more Eurofighter development progress in 2023 as we begin to approach an early access release and feature completion level.

We also look towards 2023 with continued love for the Viggen and Tomcat. We capped off the year with another major Viggen patch, and now set our sights on another round of additions to both products. We’re working hard to get on target on the early F-14A, which remains the largest piece of the F-14 yet undelivered, among of course other outstanding and promised features, such as TARPS or FORGE. Further Viggen improvements are slated for the early part of this year as we continue product sustainment. It’s time to get rid of those Early Access tags and square these aircraft away.

Quality, consistency and pushing boundaries are our top priorities, and we’re as excited as ever for all that we’ve been cooking.
Stay tuned for the full Phantom unveiling and for other exciting announcements with new partners and beyond.

Thank you all once again for your dedicated support and passion.
That’s what drives and motivates us, and we’ll make sure your faith is well placed with each upcoming release.

Sincerely,
Team Heatblur

Phantom88 · January 12, 2023

Phantom88 · April 9, 2023

From F B
" Happy Easter from the Heatblur Team! A quick breather for our team this weekend as we push hard on all fronts. Thank you for all of your continued outpouring of support and enthusiasm throughout the early part of 2023!

Phantom88 · June 1, 2023

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Phantom88 · June 6, 2023

Tease of F-4E Radar
https://www.reddit.com/r/hoggit/comments/142qrhn/first_tease_of_the_radar_for_the_f4e_module_map/

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Phantom88 · August 13, 2023

From Facebook
“We’re warming up your seat! The last miles are always the hardest, and the team is presently working night and day to get DCS: F-4E ready for launch.
The Phantom has now been in development for just over two years, and we’ve been working incredibly hard to build not only the ultimate recreation of the Phantom, but a sustainable platform for Heatblur moving forward, starting with the launch of the F-4.
Every rivet, screw, breaker, lamp, and otherwise will be accurately recreated in what we hope will be the ultimate simulation of the legendary Phantom. Our current focus is still on wrapping up some of the most complex and intricate systems coming to DCS: F-4E, such as Jester 2.0. Not only do we have to make sure that new features developed are great, polished and fun on day one; but since we’ll be re-using a lot of our new technology in both past and future aircraft, we’re treading thoughtfully. We’ve always tried to look for new ways to further DCS and our own products, and the Phantom will be no different. Elements like better in game learning or RPG-lite mechanics in JESTER are just some examples of where we’ve gone this time around.
Our key priority however is ensuring that you have a great experience on launch day, with a rich and as close to feature complete experience as we can provide, and we’ll be sparing no effort to get to the quality you all expect.
We can’t wait for you to fly the F-4. Stay tuned for more news, including F-4E, but also MSFS F-14 as well as updates to DCS: F-14, Viggen and other Heatblur elements shipping this year. We’re somewhat quiet at the moment as we have our heads down and are working hard, but we hope to share much more soon.
Thank you for all of the support, we couldn’t do this without you all!”